Louis Botha

Louis Botha (27 September 1862-27 August 1919) was Prime Minister of South Africa from 4 February 1907 to 27 August 1919, preceding Jan Smuts. Botha was a Boer hero during the Second Boer War, and he served as the only Prime Minister of Transvaal from 1907 to 1910 before serving as the first Prime Minister of South Africa from 1910 until his death in 1919.

War hero
Louis Botha was born in Vryheid, Transvaal on 27 September 1862, and he was a prosperous farmer before being elected to the Eerste Volksraad (Parliament) in 1896. He became a successful general in the Second Boer War, winning an astounding victory at Colenso on 15 December 1899. He came to support peace with the United Kingdom, as the British would inevitably win the war due to their numerical superiority. The practical and pragmatic Botha ensured that the peace favored the Afrikaners, and he formed a close relationship with Jan Smuts. Together, they envisioned a South Africa with extensive state self-government and reconciliation between South Africans of English descent and Afrikaners, and he became Prime Minister of the Tansvaal in 1907.

Premiership
Botha's conciliatory stance towards English speakers alienated many conservative Afrikaners, but this made him the natural choice for the first Prime Minister of South Africa in 1910. He founded the South African Party in 1911 with the policy of reconciliation with Britain, but it was this policy that split the party in 1913, when J.B.M. Hertzog left to found the National Party of South Africa. Botha led his country in support of Britain during World War I, and he also invaded German South-West Africa (Namibia) with the goal of territorial gain for his country. He suppressed a 1914 rebellion against the pro-British government, making him unpopular among many Afrikaners, and his party failed to gain an absoute majority in 1915 due to the pro-German sentiments of many Afrikaners and his weakening position of authority, winning just 5% more votes than the National Party. He attended the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, and he gained a League of Nations mandate for the South African administration South-West Africa. Just after his return, he died of a heart attack, and Smuts succeeded him as Prime Minister.